deletive

D2E1L1E1T1I1V4E1

adjective

Tending to delete or destroy.

“lexical deletive rules”

Scrabble 12
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Meanings

adjectivedeletive (comparative more deletive, superlative most deletive)

comparative more deletive · superlative most deletive

  1. uncommonTending to delete or destroy.

    lexical deletive rules

    1 more example

    [T]he obtuſer end [of a style] vvas made more deletive, apt to put out, and obliterate, vvhen they vvould Stylum vertere [turn the style], vvhich our Burniſher (another Tool us'd by Chalcographers) and Poliſher performes.

    1662, J[ohn] Evelyn, “Of Sculpture, how Deriv’d, and Distinguish’d, with the Styles, and Instruments Belonging to It”, in Sculptura: Or The History, and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper. […], London: […] J[ames] C[ottrel] for G. Beedle [i.e., Gabriel Bedell], and T[homas] Collins, […], and J[ohn] Crook […], →OCLC, book I, page 9

Origin

from delete + -ive.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

deletive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deletive

MLA

“deletive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deletive. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deletive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deletive.

Source: deletive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.